The Frank Pettingell Collection of Plays in the Library from the University of Kent at Canterbury
This collection provides new insight into the nature of drama and the 19th-century popular theater in Britain. Actor Frank Pettingell acquired the collection from Arthur Williams, an actor-dramatist of the 19th century. Williams saved working texts, in holograph, fair copies, typescript or paste-up.
Series One: Manuscript and Typescript Plays
These plays provide new insight into the nature of drama as a whole and into the workings of British popular theater in the 19th century, both in London and in the provinces where the theater was very much alive.
Part One: "Arbarbanel the Hebrew" to "Exit by Mistake": 22 reels
Part Two: "A Fable of the Fenians" to "My Uncle's Pet": 26 reels
Part Three:"Naomi the Gypsy Girl" to "The Swindler": 25 reels
Part Four: "The Taylor of Eisbach" to "Zulema the Circassian Beauty," and other materials: 22 reels
Part Five: Typescript and outsize manuscript plays: "Across the Continent" to "Work Girls of London": 18 reels
Series One: 113 reels
Series Two: Pantomimes
The second series of plays in the Pettingell Collection reproduces over 300 pantomime libretti, reflecting the tremendous popularity of this form of entertainment in the 19th century.
Series Two: 20 reels
Series Three: Rare Printed Plays
This series provides a unique look at the world of 19th-century theater by making available a host of printed plays collected and annotated by some of Britain's finest working actors of the period.
Part One: Abbott, William-Byron, Henry James: 32 reels
Part Two: Calcroft, John William-Fry, Edward P. : 26 reels
Part Three: Galsworthy, John-Lytton, Edward; George Bulward, First Lord: 27 reels
Series Three: 85 reels
Complete Collection: 218 reels